Dubai bank spreads happiness

Dubai - The concept of the Happiness Bank was pioneered by Amna Al Bedwawi.

The UAE is known to turnaround every innovation into reality and make the country the 'happiest place' to live. The Happiness Bank at the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) is one such innovation that has emerged out of a simple idea of spreading happiness and gratitude among the employees of the authority.
The concept of the Happiness Bank was pioneered by Amna Al Bedwawi, e-content editor at the e-Government Development Department, who has made it her mission to spread happiness among the employees.
Currently, the Happiness Bank is installed in the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) premises and it has received an overwhelming response among the employees. 
So what does the Happiness Bank do? The bank surprises employees with the points they have received as token of appreciation from other employees in the organisation and these points can be redeemed through the Happiness Bank. The surprises can range from small to big. Just to share a few examples, it could be the ticket to a concert, two-day vacation stay, a day at your favourite Spa, or anything that can make the employee happy.
How will the bank know what does an employee like or prefer? This information is collected at the time when the employees open their Happiness Account stating their areas of interest. Based on this data, the surprises are designed to delight people.
Al Bedwawi said: "I work with so many people and usually feel a simple touch of human gratitude goes a long way in enriching inter-personal relationships. It boosts the working culture and brings the best out in the team, and collectively in an organisation. I wanted to know how to thank my colleagues for their contribution to my success and I came up with this concept to show my gratitude to my colleagues." 
The Happiness Bank was sponsored by 'Afkari', which falls under the Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation. It was established to stimulate and enrich the culture of innovation within the government sector through the development of an integrated innovation framework. 
It moved from an innovative idea to a reality with contribution from Dubai-based KeyBS. Ibrahim Darraz, managing director, KeyBS, said: "When we were selected to offer the solution to this innovative idea it certainly made us think 'out of the box' as we are accustomed to think of kiosk in a conventional way. The Happiness Bank is installed in the form of a custom-made kiosk, which does have a little different set up from a normal kiosk as these gifts - in shape of box - are dispensed from a kiosk while redeeming the points." 
Al Bedwawi, along with KeyBS, is keen to promote her Happiness Bank among other public and private sector institutions.
"A happy employee is an achiever and the Happiness Bank is a very smart tool that can positively change the work environment. All of us have a lot of responsibilities, tasks, stress and problems at work. We are spending almost eight hours a day in a serious atmosphere and we forget to share emotions and feelings of happiness and gratitude with our colleagues," said Amna Al Bedwawi.
"I would like to thank Amna for this innovative idea and I want to emphasise that I'm so happy to live in a country that cares about happiness and encourages all people to be happy persons," said Zeina Al Koukou, marketing manager at KeyBs.
sandhya@khaleejtimes.com
 

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